we start with this. she is being remembered for speaking out about her own problems and for changing the role of first lady. also, britain's largest circulation newspaper is about to shut down. we will look back at the colorful history of this 168-year-old favorite. our top story, former first lady betty ford has died. she was 93 years old. she was surrounded by family when she passed away last night. she became first lady when her husband gerald ford took over as president in 1974, following the resignation of richard nixon. betty ford made headlines when she refield her battle with -- revealed her battle with breast cancer and known for founding the betty ford center for helping people dealing with addiction. the idea came from her own alcohol addiction. here is how she describes her problems to our very own larry king back in 2003. >> addiction in general but your addiction to begin with. it was first to calcohol, right?

>> my addiction was a combination of alcohol and the prescription drugs that i -- >> which was first? >> they both were a part of my life, but they did not become a problem until they overrode my common sense. >> it began subtly. >> very subtly. it was easy for me to realize that when i had had the medications, which were many, much too much. >> for pain you originally were given? >> yes. and tranquilizers and sleeping pills and then when i took a drink at 5:00, 6:00, i realized the interaction, i didn't know what was happening, i just knew that i felt great and the pain was gone. and -- >> which makes it encouraging to take its next day. >> i looked for it every day. and it became a daily habit and

it finally overpowered me. >> she was so candid about that. after her recovery betty ford became an advocate for addicts and dedicated her energy to helping so many people get the help they desperately needed. cnn's thelma gutierrez joins me from the betty ford center in rancho mirage, california. betfy ford has helped countless and countless, so many people, it's unthinkable the amount of people who have been helped by her and how candid she was and outspoken about addiction. >> susan, absolutely. when you talk to people here in rancho mirage where the fords retired after public life from the people who are driving cabs to people who work in the hotels, they'll tell you they're very sad. this was a person who everybody here looked up to and as soon as the word got out yesterday of her death here in rancho mirage, there has been an outpouring of loving tributes. president obama released a statement saying, today we take comfort in the knowledge that

betty ford and her husband former president gerald ford, are together once more. michele and i send out our thoughts and prayers to their children, michael, john, steven, and susan. former first lady nancy reagan said, i was deeply saddened this afternoon when i heard of betty ford's death. she has been an inspiration to so many through her efforts to educate women about breast cancer and her wonderful work at the betty ford center and susan, without doubt, that is one of her greatest legacies. since 1982, when the center was founded, 90,000 people, including many celebrities and their families, have been treated here for substance abuse. she went very public a year after her husband left office with her own struggles with her addictions to alcohol and prescription pain medications. the fords retired here after public life. they spent many years here. residents say they are saddened

at her death. >> she paved the way for so many people. certainly an inspiration. thank you so much. we have this just in to cnn. new defense secretary leon panetta has landed in kabul, afghanistan. speaking on the flight over, panetta said the purpose of his trip is to get out and talk to troops on the front lines. panetta was just sworn in last week to replace robert gates as you may recall, as defense secretary. he was head of cia before that. panetta says it is important to keep the pressure on the taliban in order to influence a settlement in the future. he also says he is hopeful of building a better relationship with afghan president hamid karzai. a moment of silence in arlington, texas, last night for a baseball fan who suffered fatal injuries after falling from the stands. >> we ask that each of you join the athletics, the texas rangers and all of major league baseball, as we observe a silent moment of reflection and respect for brownwood, texas,

firefighter shannon stone. >> shannon stone died earlier this week. he was trying to catch a ball for his 6-year-old son that was thrown into the stands by one of the texas rangers' players. the rangers have set up a memorial fund for his family. so heartbreaking. in orlando, florida, a spokesman for the orange county jail says casey anthony refused her mother's request to visit last night. tuesday, the 25-year-old was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter caylee. casey anthony is due to be released from jail a week from tomorrow. the world's newest country is raising their flag for the first time. it is independence day for south sudan. it happened earlier today. people there voted overwhelmingly in january to form their own country. it is roughly the size of texas. dignitaries from around the world are attending celebrations in the new capital of juba. last hour, president obama released this statement, saying after so much struggle by people of south sudan, the united states of america welcomes the birth of a new nation.

in syria, more protests in those anti-government demonstrations are becoming a greater diplomatic issue between the u.s. and damascus. the syrian government is accusing u.s. ambassador robert ford of inciting protests like this one yesterday in the flashpoint city of ha ma. the u.s. state department calls that claim, quote, absolute rubbish. more arrests in the "news of the world" scandal in britain. british prime minister david cameron's former press secretary turned himself in. he was released later. he was editor of the paper at the time of the scandal before being hired by cameron. he quit his government job earlier this year. employees of the tabloid newspaper hacked into the account of a murdered girl and erased messages. this week owner rupert murdoch shut down the paper. the royals correspondent was also arrested yesterday. the newest british royal couple spending their first full day in california. prince william and his bride

kate arrived yesterday. there he is speaking to david beckham there. they spent time at a couple of events. david beckham among the guests. they will mix business with pleasure at a charity polo match in santa barbara, california. and a brit film and television event tonight. shuttle "atlantis" in orbit right now on nasa's last shuttle mission. the final one. we will take you through the final few seconds of the countdown when nasa made the decision to launch. that's coming up after the break. and there have been five different shuttle orbiters. can you name them all? i'll have the answer after this.

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before the break i asked if you could name the five shuttle orbiters that flew missions for nasa. here they are, "atlantis," "challenger," "discovery," and "endeavour "endeavour." the shuttle plasted into a cloudy sky yesterday. cnn's john zarrella tells us about the historic launch.

>> reporter: the launch of the shuttle "atlantis" was very much a microcosm of so many of the other launches that have gone before it. there was the high drama of not knowing whether it would get off the ground because of the weather continues and then there was at 31 seconds before launch, the clock stopped as nasa worked through an issue that they had. >> t minus 35. 33. >> hold it. t minus 31 seconds due to a failure. >> and we have had a failure. >> reporter: but at the end of the day, they managed to get the vehicle "atlantis" off the ground and right now it is on its way, chasing down the international space station on its way to a rendezvous there on sunday morning. and then the beginning of a 12-day mission. now, after the liftoff, the flight team held a news conference and during that, the launch director finally was able to exhale and made a little bit of a joke about how the decision

was made. >> we met in my office before the meeting and we flipped a coin. that's how we really make decisions. >> i think dart board. >> now the programs are we can divulge some of our secrets. >> reporter: i talked to him several months ago and asked mike, what are you going to do when the shuttle stops flying? he said i'm a launch director. there are no more shuttles to fly, so i don't know. that's kind of the situation that at many places around the country, certainly here at the kennedy space center where a lot of people with the shuttle program ending are losing their jobs and saying that same thing, what will they do in the future? they don't know. john zarrella at the kennedy space center in florida. >> john zarrella, thanks. i often wondered why quarter would affect the launch or not or delay it at all. i was asking reynolds earlier. you would think with maybe a drizzle or rain it wouldn't is

affect it considering how powerful it is. >> absolutely. i think the number one reason why because of lightning. tremendous concern. another thing is just for on the ground you have great observation, the craft as it takes off. watch every single bit of it. if there is a situation they have to abort, ground observers will see some kind of a problem you have to have good visibility. but again, what an amazing thing to see. i lived in orlando three years and i'm embarrassed to admit this, it's one of those things when you live there and you see those, you begin to take them for granted. you really do. you don't realize each and every one is a technological miracle. it's an amazing thing. a crew of amazing people, so amazing engineers, great pilots, great scientists, that put all this together, team effort and to see that thing rocket into the sky is just something to behold as spectacular as the daytime ones are, the night ones are absolutely magical. a beautiful thing to see. all right. switch gears a little bit going from one of the hottest shows on the earth to some of the hottest temperatures we've had all season. just brutal heat. take a look at what we had

yesterday. wichita falls, my good friends and neighbors, 110 degrees. a reading afternoon in boringer, monticello, in arkansas, doesn't matter, it's heat, 102. monroe, louisiana, got to the century mark. hattiesburg, 99, 100 not a big difference there. today we're going to see more of that spread into parts of the midwest, upper midwest and back into central plains. heat indices, combination of high heat, mixed in with the humidity, which doesn't just feel unbearable to you, great excuse not to do yard work. seriously. again, something else you can expect today. it's going to be serious with the temperatures themselves. take a look at this, 90 in kansas city, 87 in chicago, 102 in dallas. as we take a look at some of your heat index again, a combination of the temperature and high humidity, going to feel like 102 in shreveport, 108 in oklahoma city, 103 in wichita,

and the hits keep coming. fast forward into tomorrow's forecast, st. louis 99, 106 memphis, 111 in little rock. wow. ridiculous. montgome montgomery, alabama, 104. into monday, still the heat continues and spreads farther to the north. motor city 102, 93 chicago, 97 memphis, dallas in the 100s. what we can expect in some places a little bit of a cool down. bring this one back up. with the daytime heating and high humidity, might get a splash or a shower in the southeast. with one pop-up shower, the rain cooled air once it hits the surface and spreads out, tremendous difference. knock your temperatures off 10 to 15 degrees. you will be enjoying in the central plains and upper midwest. thunderstorms. just be advised in parts of say i would say in the twin cities maybe as far as lincoln, nebraska, conditions will be just beautiful.

not expecting a great deal of fog. if you have patches that do develop should be gone for oakland. not a problem at all. back to you. >> if you don't feel like doing yard work don't do it. if it feel like it's over 100. >> reading my mind. good plan. >> thanks. the british tabloid "news of the world" has covered scandals for over 150 years. that long. now it is over. a scandal of its own has brought it down. that story coming up after the break. the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

more arrests in a tabloid phone hacking scandal in britain. a former aide to prime minister david cameron turned himself in, he was relaced later. andy coulson was editor of "news of the world" at the time of the scandal. the paper's former royal correspondent was arrested last night. employees of the tabloid are accused of hacking into people's voicemail accounts and bribing police for information. for scoop, stories. this week, owner rupert murdoch announced the paper is shutting down. it will print its final issue tomorrow. over the years, the "news of the world" built its reputation on exposing the wrongdoing of others. now it's accused of wrongdoing itself including breaking into the voicemails of a murdered girl's family and people who died in london's terror bombing. richard quest looks back. >> reporter: it was in 1843 the first "news of the world" rolled off the presses. it was the cheapest paper of its

time and aimed directly at the working classes. before long, the british paper had established itself as the most widely read sunday paper. eventually reaching sales of around 2.5 million copies each week. fast forward to 1969, and the paper changes hands. rupert murdoch becomes the new owner. and the "news of the world" is murdoch's first fleet street forray. for the years that followed the newspaper built a reputation on hard-hitting exclusives, usually exposing the embarrassment of celebrities and politicians. prince harry, age 16, was one of the many to be exposed. then there was david beckham. he was exposed as an adulterer when they uncovered the secret affair he was having with his personal assistant. in 2005, the paper published a seemingly mundane story about

prince william injuring his knee. it was another exclusive for the "news of the world" that made its reputation getting scoops. royal officials realized, that the story could only have been sought by the illegal interception of prince william's mobile phone voicemail. right there began the chain of events, allegations and scandals, that enveloped members of the royal family, celebrities, politicians, and now, murder and bomb victims. richard quest, cnn, london. >> it will print its final issue tomorrow. the final film in the harry potter series "harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2" premiered in london. that doesn't mean fans will have to go without a hogwarts fix. we'll show you options out there. filmmakers have released fun facts. what do you think the largest animal ever brought on the harry potter set was? i'll have the answer after this.

the final "harry potter" film, "harry potter and the deathly hallows" premiered in london this week. before the break we asked you this, what was the largest animal ever brought on the film set. did you guess? here is the answer. maybe you knew. according to warner brothers it is a hippo on the set. with the release of the eighth and final film the "harry potter" saga is coming to an end. the "harry potter" brand is gaining ground as we hear from jim baldwin, the boy wizard may want to go to business school. >> reporter: the tag line for this, the final of the eight "harry potter" films, it all ends here.

that may be the case after seven novels, but harry will live on in the form of a new website coming soon, pottermore.com. >> back in 1998, i knew i was generating a lot more material than would ever appear in the books. it was simply ridiculous for anyone. for me at the time i thought who will ever want to know the significance of all these different? this was all in my head. >> reporter: author j.k. rowling has joined with sony to create a home for the background potter material, potter discussions and games. potter fans once signed up will answer questions which will place them in one of the four hogwart houses. there will be room for users to have their own potter web pages. everything will be free, rowling says it's her way of giving back to fans. >> you don't have to pay to get the extra material. you don't have to buy a single thing to go on to pottermore and have the whole experience you've

just seen. and that was really important to me. >> reporter: though the site will be the only place to buy potter e-books. rowling has kept the digital rights to her material. she never before allowed e-books. these e-books will not be tied to a certain kind of electronic reader. >> people are asking for these e-books and audio books as a big demand for them. what's incredible this experience that's been created allows you to accompany the reading in a really sort of interactive and innovative way. >> reporter: and, of course, there is the official potter theme park, in orlando, florida. and from spring next year, at the harry potter experience tour, at least in studios outside london where potter was shot, is being built by cnn's sister company warner brothers, and then there are all of those unofficial tours in london. clearly -- potter mania will not

disappear amongst the deathly hollows. jim boldin, cnn, london. it is certainly still growing out there. while the nation's unemployment figures rose in june, there is one bright spot to report. ford says it is hiring 1800 workers at its ford escape suv assembly plant in louisville, kentucky. the carmaker says a lottery system will be used to select job candidates. claiming its place among nations celebrations break out in juba as south sudan achiefs its dream of independence finally. that and much more coming up in our top stories.

juba

checking top stories for you. former first lady betty ford has died. she was 93 years old. betty ford died last night surrounded by family. she became first lady when her husband gerald ford became president in 1974 following the resignation of richard nixon. she was also a co-founder of the betty ford center, a world renowned addiction treatment facility in california. here is how neighbors in rancho mirage, california, remember her. >> it was really hard to hear because i had seen her so much. she came by where i worked a lot

and it was really hard because she had such class, she was absolutely one of the most elegant first ladies ever. >> i know icon is an overused term these days, but she truly is one. her vision and her mission for the betty ford center is unsurpassable. >> i'm a cancer survivor, as she is too, and it's shocking. she was just a fabulous lady. fabulous. we're all going to miss her. >> an icon she is. the world just added a new nation. south sudan is celebrating its independence this weekend. its capital is juba. president obama announced earlier that the united states formally recognized the newly created republic of south sudan. the new country is roughly the size of texas. the duke and duchess of cambridge continuing their north america trip this weekend in los angeles. william and catherine arrived yesterday. they spent time at a couple of events promoting british

business interests. they have several other activities planned for today, including a charity polo match in santa barbara. for some getting along with your boss is not always easy but is necessary. christine romans takes a look at how to cope with a boss you don't like. "your bottom line" starts right now. >> first the heat session, now the recovery. i'm christine romans. men may have been hit hardest by the recession but they're making up ground in this recovery. we'll look at a new gender gap in the race for jobs. investing in schools in a new era of massive government cuts. sky-high college tuition, teacher cheating scandals, bigger class sizes, we're still falling behind the rest of the world. john legend calls education reform the civil rights issue of our time. why reform is needed right now. then i love my boss. that's what they wrote for me to say. if your boss is horrible we tell you how to cope in the office. but first, the great

recession took 7.5 million jobs. seven out of the ten jobs were lost by men. that's changing. according to pew research as jobs are slowly coming back, men have been finding their way back into the work force at a substantially higher rate than women since the recession ended. i'm joined by jane bryant quinn, a personal finance writer and author of "making the most of your money now" and rick neuman the chief u.s. business correspondent at "u.s. news and world report." jane, do you think this is a new kind of gender gap or just natural big budget cuts mean a lot of jobs held by women are being cut now? >> i think probably the latter, and since men lost so many jobs in the recession, much worse than women, it's normal that they would bounce back first and earlier and the unemployment rate for women is still lower than the unemployment rate for men. >> that's a very good point. >> i think this is -- it's really unclear whether -- what kind of a gender gap there is here. but the -- certainly a lot of the jobs that are being lost are in traditional women's

occupation, education, health, state and local government. >> let's look at some of those. rick, veen the gender gap is more of a reflection of industries growing and shrinking but does it make an impression the economy favors men over women? >> male dominated industries got hit first, manufacturing, construction, other things like that, and we're sort of seeing a lag effect with industries where women are a higher percentage of the work force now getting hit. government and education in particular. that's because the stimulus spending held up education for a while and now we're seeing all these cuts in states and cities which are really hammering education. that's where a lot of job losses are happening now. >> look at the construction, transportation, warehousing, manufacturing, those were the greatest job losses. >> male industries. >> male industries now. the women industries are getting hit. are we seeing a recovery necessarily in construction and manufacturing and those things or just not the blood letting it was before. >> we're not seeing a huge recovery in construction, that's for sure, although manufacturing is improving. there are jobs everywhere as you know, really painfully slow. want to say one thing i found

about really interesting in this pew research report on the women. the job losses, the unemployment were among a particular group of women. women of color, black, hispanic, asian and foreign born women. if you look at the -- what the job loss was for native born women, it is not the same thing. so, i am -- pew said they didn't know all these things were happening, but i am very curious about that piece of the report. >> it raises a question about who is being left behind in any kind of recovery in general. >> or what kind of choices people are making. one thing we don't know very much about yet, how families are reacting to all of this financial stress. we know everybody's been trying to get all the income they can, but obviously we saw women coming into the work force in the '90s and over the last decade and don't know what kinds of decisions families are making about who goes back to work, who doesn't. a lot of families have downsized or want to downsize and may be making the decisions where they're saying, jobs are so hard

to get, downsize a little bit and get by with less income and change our lifestyle. we could see that data coming out. >> some have been wondering if there are middle-class families with savings who decide one parent will take home than take a lesser paying job than before the recession, some people who might have left the work force altogether, if there's another person in the work force who is making money. i mean the bottom line, i think here is that is this going to be a slower job creation than we are used to? is this the new normal? >> i would think certainly we're having slower job creation because this is not just a recession. this is the great recession. we had these immense budget problems, debt problems, family debt problems. we have banks -- >> those family debt problems are still there. >> all those things are still there. although i do -- i don't want any false optimism here, but you do remember, in the early 1990s, everyone was talking about the jobless recovery. which it was. for two or three years. >> early 1990. then what happened? 24 million jobs created. >> and you know --

>> nobody should count on that. not going to see a repeat of that. >> in the 2000/2001 recession a jobless recovery. so i do think that this is a different time because it was a -- we had a financial collapse. it was much worse. >> jobless recovers are getting deeper and longer. that trend is becoming very clear. at the end of the day there's not much you can do about whether you're a man or woman. i think this comes down to skills. if you're in a construction industry, for instance, just waiting for that job to come back, you've got the wrong strategy. everybody in the work force needs to be getting smarter and better. >> jane and rick, don't move. two-time pulitzer prize winner nick will join us next. why he says education spending is the best use for tax dollars. r so you can get back to playing "angry birds." it lets you access business forms on the go, fire off e-mails with the qwerty keypad, and work securely around the world so you can get back to playing "angry birds." it's the android-powered phone that mixes business with pleasure.

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"new york times" columnist nick christof caught our attention, failing to invest in american schools is so short-sighted. i can't think of a better use of taxes than education. two-time pulitzer prize winner nick joins us now. nice to see you this morning. thanks for being here. >> nice to see you. >> in the most recent international student assessment report, this is the number everyone looks at comparing 15-year-olds in 70 countries the u.s. ranks 14th for reading skills, 17th for science, and below average 25th for mathematics. nick, we spend twice as much per student today than in the '70s. what do we have to show for it? >> not very much.

and i think that right now we're facing a further crisis because there is a huge defending going on all around the country because of the downturn. my old high school in oregon is just reeling. i just saw that los angeles has cut by 80% of the funding for summer school programs. >> right. >> and i guess it -- you know it just strikes me that if you look at what determines a country's long-term greatness or long-term economic growth, there are no silver bullets, no quick fixes, but maybe the closest thing there is is really investment in education. there's not just about money as you said, it's about building a great system, but raising mass education of the population and that is where we are striking out where we're being leapfrogged by asian countries in particular and where i hear that right now, we're really losing a moment and that victims will not only be those individuals who weren't getting a great education, but will be

the country itself. >> you look at the investment in education or the investment in a young person and how that can be such an economic driver long are term when the person is successful and contributing and starting ideas and, you know, adding to companies, yet you talk about the budget ax. i mean you have reformers and you have conservatives who say, look, we are not doing enough well with the tax money you're taking out of our pocket. >> yeah. and i mean, i think that the critics have a point, that just pouring more money into a broken system doesn't work. but i also think that starving a system more resources is going to guarantee that kind of broken system. we need -- i think we do need school reform and we do need more accountability but we also need more money going into the system. i don't think a lot of people would agree with me, but i think we also need better teachers and that means paying teachers more. i think there has to be some kind of increase in

accountability but that also coupled with higher salaries to encourage, attract the best people into the profession. right now we're not getting that. >> what about what part of the budget ax story, i want to bring jane and rick back into the conversation, higher education is costing so much more. >> you look at how expensive it is to compete with the rest of the world and get your child educated at a university to make sure they have this, you know, the sound basis to get these jobs that are in demand, and it could bankrupt the middle class or especially lower-middle class family. look at these average tuition costs for private, non-profit four-year. look at the skyrocketing, up almost 132%. >> well, there's a couple things. first, of course, you don't have to go to one of the most expensive four-year public institutions. everybody looks at what does the ivy league cost and you say that's terrible, i can't possibly go there. as nick pointed out, we have a good community college system,

although it's being eroded, too, i'm sorry to say, and there is a state universities, the majority of kids do go to the state universities. i'm worried about the loans. because if the cost goes up, more and more loans are being piled on to students. i call it servitude, kids don't understand if they get into trouble, if they don't get big jobs, if they're unemployed, get sick, they cannot get rid of these loans. >> you can't wipe it out of bankruptcy in many cases. >> if you're a parent who co-signed a loan you can't wipe it out in bankruptcy. you will be paying that forever. they come after you. there's 25% fees on it. kids are getting buried without realizing what they are getting into. there should be an ability to get out of a student loan in bankruptcy if you need to. these are private student loans. the banks do it as well. it's the bank student loans who can't get out. i think it's a disgrace. >> i would like to see that, for too many years people could raid their home equity to pay for their education and that bubble

in tuition, something we have to address and when we talk about -- i want to talk about the department of education, rick, has a website, where they're publishing for the first time the nation's most expensive colleges and the least expensive colleges. there's no margin for error. i say this a hundred times you can't switch majors four times anymore if you're paying this kind of money to go to college. >> you have to get it right the first time, don't you? >> unfortunately. it's not fair. you want kids to be able to be matched with their skills and figure out what, you know, the rest of their life we're talking about. >> the education department has done families a favor putting that information about the cost of different colleges in one place. and i hope that this is a step toward people starting to think about education the way they think about all these other goods in the marketplace. we don't sit captive and say we'll take whatever price you charge us for most other things, so i think people need to start thinking about thinking this way about education which is find the best value and there's another assumption we need to question as well, this whole idea any amount of debt is okay as long as you're spending that money on education.

you have to think about smart debt and say do i really want to rack up $100,000 to go to a private school? i mean what's the -- what's the value of that. is it really that much more valuable than what i might get at an affordable school or community college. we have a lot of resources available and and people have not been thinking about tapping all those resources. we see tapped into the system. we don't have to be capped. >> $100,000 is not an option unfortunately for many families and many students. last question to nick, back on the budget idea. states are making massive education cuts in terms of teacher jobs. i mean some of these teachers are going to be losing their jobs, couldn't afford to send their kids to college. california, 36,000 jobs. likely to be cut. illinois, new york, michigan, alabama, i mean you cross the country, teachers are losing their jobs. we reported women have lost more jobs during the so-called recovery because they have been more likely to be where some of the budget cuts they're making. this is only going to continue, isn't it? >> there's a new era of fiscal

discipline in washington. >> it sort of breaks my heart. i do a lot of reporting about international poverty and there's huge differences between poverty and say africa or asia and poverty in america. the one commonalty, the best escalator out of poverty, most effective anti-poverty program is not some kind of redistribution, but whether talking about tanzania or alabama it is education. that's the best escalator out. and when we undermine those kinds of programs, especially the -- those that reach disadvantaged communities, then we're breaking that escalator and we're in effect sentencing another generation to be left behind and it -- we're investing in education in afghanistan because we see that is a way to build long-term success for afghanistan. we need to have the same commitment right here at home. >> all right. nick, "new york times," thank you so much. real pleasure to have you on the program. jane bryant quinn, nice to see you too and rick neuman from

"u.s. news and world report." john legend, his passion for music matched only by his passion for education reform. john legend joins me next. 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! a complete four course seafood feast for $15. start with soup then have salad and biscuits followed by 1 of 7 delicious entrees and finish with something sweet all for just $15. right now at red lobster. t the motorola expert from sprint. its powerful tools help you work faster and smarter so you can get back to playing "angry birds."

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♪ ♪ the world will get no better >> that was musician john legend performing at our 2010 hero and

all-star programs. he calls education the civil rights issue of our time. education reform a major focus for the grammy-award winning artist. here to talk with us about education and his efforts to combat childhood obesity is john legend. welcome to the program. >> thank you for having me. >> we've long said on this program the great equalizer on this country is supposed to be a public education or quality education. 1.2 million kids dropped out. every 26 or 27 seconds a kid is a dropout. where do we begin? >> it begins, well, first of all, starts at home of course. as parents and as community members, we have to do a better job of nurturing our kids and preparing them for school. but realizing that a lot of kids grow up in circumstances, a lot of kids don't have the resources at home. we know that great schools can make a huge difference in kids' lives. i work with some great schools, some of them in new york, some of them around the country, and they're proving that working with the same kids that are

challenged, the same kids that are failing in our schools, the same types of kids are coming to these schools and doing well. they have great teachers, great principals, a staff that's dedicated and committed to raising the expectations for these kids and really delivering great results for them. and they're doing it. and because them. and they're doing it. and because that's happening, it makes mental that we can do more of that around the country. >> when you go and talk to these kids in the classrooms, here in the harlem village academy, here in new york whereby the kids star struck -- i mean, you're putting so much time in the classroom, they know who you are. >> they've seen me quite a bit. i spend quite a bit of time there. i visit quite often and i've been to a lot of their fund-raisers and events and things. so they've gotten used to me, but they're still a little bit excited to see me. >> tell me about your show me campaign. there are 14 million people living in poverty in the united states. so you've got this issue where when the kid is walking in the front door, he or she may be hungry, he or she may be taught at that school, also fed at that school, and really faces an july

hill battle, climbing out of poverty for the american dream. >> yeah. and the show me campaign, our whole commitment is to find ways to solve the problem of poverty, and focus particularly on education, because we believe education is such a great pathway out of poverty, and as you said, it's a great equalizer. >> right. it should be the great equalizer, if we can only deliver it. a quality education for everyone. >> yes. that's why we focus on education reform so heavily, because we believe it's such an important tool to fighting poverty. and we work with schools that not only care about teacher equality and not only care about testing and all those things, but they care about the emotional well-being and health of the kids as well. we work with an organization called turnaround, that does great work at evaluating the whole lives of the kids, making sure there's counselling and therapy if they've been through trauma. making sure their health is taken care of. so the schools we work with are saying, we've got to do whatever it takes to make a difference in

these kids' lives and make the information that they have transformative. >> and you're affiliated with a program, started with a mom who wanted quality things to drink at school. tell me a little bit about that. the obesity problem at the schools and some of the new, innovative ways to fight it. >> it was interesting. i was talking to one of the principals i work with and one of the things she was saying, they were just opening a high school, and she was saying, it's amazing how kids really start to get obese when they become teenagers. and a lot of times our kids are just not doing the right thing when it comes to the kind of diet they have. and, you know, i like to, in my business dealings, try to do well and do good at the same time. and i work with a company called hint water, with their slogan is, drink water, not sugar. they have this really no-calorie, no artificial sweetener, no sugar, tasty water that has a hint of fruit flavor,

it's delicious, it's refreshing, and not loaded with sugar like most beverages that our kids consume. so i was like, this is something i want to be a part of. >> more and more kids are getting rid of the chocolate milk and strawberry milk and flavored things and think if they have the undivided attention of these kids all day, why not feed them something healthy. coming up, you like math. should we be doing a better job of pushing kids into math and science? >> it's funny how correlated math and music are. studies have shown that a lot of kids good at music are also good at math. >> so math is cool. >> i've done work with samsung and we've been helping to bring technology into the schools as well, to encourage kids want to be involved in math, science, and engineering. all right. do you like your boss? the you really like that person? the person who tells you what to do every day?

if you don't, you're not alone.

you want? >> it's 8:15 a.m.. >> it's 18-year-old scotch. if you want a promotion, you've got to earn it. >> that was a clip from the new movie, "horrible bosses." do you have a horrible boss? some folks who do are ready to jump ship. this is according to a recent survey. nearly one in three, or 32% of u.s. workers, is seriously considering leaving their job right now, with 21% not looking to leave, but they are viewing their employer unfavorably. so how do you cope if you've got a horrible boss? i posed that question to rod kurtz, the executive editor of aol small business, and pete dominick, host of sirius xm's stand-up. >> the worst boss is the boss who growing up had no kind of power, no kind of leadership, he was never even the captain for the kickball team in gym class. >> kept getting picked on.

>> i was that kid. and you get that job, you get that power, and then you tend to abuse it, you tend to over -- you know, overboss, and take that, you know, that control and really, really manipulate with it. >> or sometimes bosses are bosses because they have results somehow in the company, you know, they get results, but they're just bad people. so as long as their numbers are good and they're coming in 15% below budget all the time on their expenses and delivering somewhere else, they just last forever. >> and how many times have we heard the term failing up, especially among middle managers. >> i thought that was a management philosophy. >> they put good numbers on paper, often at their employees' expenses and they work their way up. i'm sure it's a favorite of yours, "office space." >> it resonates. >> with all of us. we've all been there. >> we asked a few folks on the street about their experience. let's listen what they said. >> my boss made me scrub the toilet in the women's bathroom, which i found completely demeaning. terrible. >> i had a bad boss, because

every monday night, i had to represent her in small claims court. she never paid her bills and sent me every monday night. >> all right. pete, you've had a few jobs in your time. what was your worst experience? and by the way, did you finish the women's bathroom? >> i have scrubbed both. i've done women's bathrooms. as long as you don't have to scrub the men's bathroom. >> i want to see your toothbrush when you're done. >> i've done that. we don't have enough time to talk about my miserable work experiences. i've been a stand-up comedian, i've worked fast food, i've done it all. i think my great gratification was the practical joke behind the boss' joke to get back at him, he still doesn't know it was me. maybe he does. >> now he does. >> rob, what's your advice to someone who has a bad boss? complain? if you go around them, you could get in trouble. >> i think this is a big problem for people. we're joking, but this is your life. you spend more time with your boss -- >> especially if you don't feel like you're moving anywhere. you're stuck in this job. >> vent a little bit to your friends, probably not your colleagues, you don't want